


Rant & Reset

by pennysparrow



Series: A crooked politician? Yeah but that ain't news no more [14]
Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo, Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crossover, Current Events, Don't copy to another site, Gen, Modern Era, News Media, Newspapers, Skype
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-28 22:48:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21144500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pennysparrow/pseuds/pennysparrow
Summary: Sometimes you just need to talk to your friend.





	Rant & Reset

Katherine was waiting on the next printout to copyedit. They were almost done for the night and Specs had dozed off on the couch about twenty minutes ago. Layout was still cranking but for now Kath had nothing to do. Well, that wasn’t true, she had a ton of essays that she was late on, but she was tired and didn’t want to do any of those. Though that’s how they ended up late in the first place. Regardless, Kath was at a lull and too braindead to do more than scroll aimlessly, alternating between tumblr and a couple different news sites.

She glanced at the time and scrunched her nose, only 12:22 it was worth a shot. Kath grabbed her phone and sent a quick text.

**Kath: -Not to sound like a booty call but you up? **

The response was nearly instant and startled a laugh out of her.

**Enj: -You actually think I’m asleep right now?**

Smiling, Katherine quickly plugged her headphones into her laptop, peeled the tape back from her webcam, and hit the call button on skype. She was still grinning as the picture focused on a familiar figure, his blonde hair falling out of the little bun he’d pulled it into.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at newspaper right now?” Enjolras said by way of greeting.

Katherine shrugged, not admitting it but not denying it either. When he raised an eyebrow, she answered. “I’m waiting to do final edits. I’ve got the time.”

Enjolras snorted but it was fond. The image shook as he readjusted his laptop, settling it in front of him so Katherine could see the bookshelf behind him and the bread on his pajama pants. She felt a swell of happiness as she noticed the t-shirt he was wearing, one of the ones that Jack had designed for Medda’s theater. She had sent it down as a surprise care package. Well, more like random gift. The box had cost more to ship than some things she’d bought from overseas thanks to its weight and had been filled with the t-shirts, stickers the Newsies had been giving out, books that had been making the lending rounds, and a ton of her brothers’ old video games for Gavroche.

“So you like the shirt?”

His grin was answer enough. Sitting up straighter he tugged it down so she might be able to see it better. “I love it! We all love them. They’re so soft and the art deco thing Jack did? It’s so cool.”

Katherine couldn’t fight her smile back anymore. She was tired and they hadn’t video chatted in ages, combined it made her slightly giddy. And giggly. Which Enjolras totally noticed.

“Is the hour getting to you? Are you, Katherine Plumber, girl reporter extraordinaire, tired and loopy?” He narrowed his eyes and Kath rolled hers.

“No comment.”

Enjolras snorted. “That’s a yes. Besides you made a booty call joke, you only do that when you’re tired.”

Scoffing, Katherine racked her mind trying to see if he was right. The situations she could think of were minimal but damning. “Well you’re up at this hour too! And you’re in the living room on the floor. I can tell. I know that angle,” she accused. “It’s like you couldn’t even make it up the three flights of steps.”

“I put my pajama pants on, I’ve already been up and back down them.”

Katherine gave him a long look. “Uh huh. And how long ago was that?”

“Like three hours,” Enjolras said sheepishly.

“The point stands.”

“Touché. So, did you call just to be a hypocrite, or…?”

“You’re mean,” she told him dryly. The sounds of cursing came from the layout room but when she glanced back they seemed to have it under control. Specs was still sprawled on the couch and Kath was going to let him sleep for as long as she could. “Nah, I was scrolling and came across a bunch of articles on the protests going on in Chile.”

Enjolras’s whole face lit up with excitement. “I know! It’s insane. I cannot believe that anyone actually thought sending the military in would be a good idea. Honestly, does no one learn from history? Are people that blind to the implications of their actions or even just the basic cause and effect?”

Katherine shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ve got to read up on it but like you know…” Katherine paused and Enjolras was already nodding.

“Yeah, you get excited and we have to yell about headlines together. Or I get excited and we have to yell about headlines together. Regardless someone is excited and there’s yelling about headlines.”

Katherine laughed. “Exactly.”

“I’ll send you some other articles too, if you want.”

“That’d be great, thanks.”

Enjolras nodded and leaned closer to the computer, she could see his focus shift as he typed and scrolled, obviously copying links and compiling them for her. “You been keeping up on the Hong Kong protests?” he asked, almost absentmindedly.

“Yeah, the whole Blizzard thing?”

“Yeah, and the bill?”

“It’s bipartisan!”

“Yeah!” He chuckled. “You know you fucked up when this congress can actually cross the aisle on something.”

Katherine just shook her head and a facebook message appeared in the corner of her screen, containing the articles that she’d wind up falling asleep reading tonight.

“It’s insane and extremely upsetting but I can’t help but find it hopeful too,” Enjolras told her. He sounded serious, that earnest tone that he seemed to get after midnight or when talking about civil rights and liberties. “Like, the whole world feels like it’s coming to a boiling point right now.”

“But how long until it reaches us? Because right now America is solidly still a simmer. And what happens when it boils over?”

Katherine had other questions too, ones that she already knew his answers too and was a little afraid of if she were being honest. Like, what did that boiling point look like here? Would they be shutting down streets and trains? She’d been a part of protests that had turned violent, been bailed out of jail for disturbing the peace and other bullshit charges, but being involved in something on a scale like Hong Kong or Chile? It terrified her as much as it exhilarated her.

Enjolras shrugged. “Soon. Hopefully soon. These impeachment proceedings might be slow but they need to lead to something, if only preventing a second term. And I don’t know but it’ll be better. So much better.”

Katherine felt her face screw up as she examined the wild look that had overcome Enjolras. They viewed the world so similarly that sometimes she forgot that the way they approached things differed. In instances like this though Kath was always starkly reminded that while she would always work within the system to make positive change, Enjolras had no hesitations to burn it all down and start fresh if he had to.

“I get worried though,” she admitted. “There’s so much violence on the rise. The U.S. has slipped significantly in the rankings for safety, we’re literally one above Saudi Arabia now. And these aren’t because peaceful protests have turned bad either.”

Enjolras frowned, solemnity replacing his previous excitement. “I know. I worry about my friends a lot. I’m not afraid to make myself a target but so many of them don’t have to do more than walk outside to be one,” he said softly. “They’re so much better than me, I’d do anything to protect them even though I know they wouldn’t let me. Still.”

“Me too,” Katherine responded in the same hushed tone. A part of her felt guilty for the sudden shift in conversation but it was a real concern and she knew if she mentioned it most of her friends would just reassert their abilities to look after themselves. But she and Enjolras _were_ similar and she’d known he felt the same way. It was nice to be able to talk about it.

“But,” Enjolras said, trying for a smile, “there’s change coming. I can feel it.”

“Yeah, there’s a new world to be won.” Katherine could feel the late hour starting to get to her as she said that.

He snorted, “That was poetic.”

“Oh shush, it’s late.”

“And you have a newspaper to finish.”

“Why’re you up?” Kath asked distractedly. “You never did say.”

Enj shrugged, shifting his weight a bit and Kath found herself doing the same, untucking her right leg from where she had been sitting on it and exchanging it for her left.

“I was working on a fellowship application but it’s not due for a while yet.”

Katherine hummed in understanding. “Well good luck.”

“Thanks. You too. I’ll text you?”

“I can confidently say I text you more than my mom, so yes.”

Enjolras laughed at that and Katherine felt herself calm. It wasn’t hard to get him to laugh but she was always proud when she did, after a year she still didn’t always believe she was lucky enough to have such an awesome friend. Making him laugh always reminded her that she did.

“Ok, now go finish New York’s best student newspaper and then go to bed.” Enjolras took on a serious countenance as he instructed that, shaking his finger and everything. Though it lost something with the wisps of blonde that were fighting for freedom from his bun.

“Only if you promise to take your own advice,” Kath countered, rolling her eyes.

That earned her a wry smile. “We’ll see. Night.”

“Night.”

The call ended and Katherine was left feeling more grounded, and simultaneously relaxed and invigorated. Talking to Enjolras had been like an odd sort of reset, just the kind she needed to carry her through the end of the month. Plus, now she had some ideas for an op-ed piece for next week’s paper.

**Author's Note:**

> It's really late and I'm tired since I wrote this while waiting on final edits for my college newspaper so I don't feel like researching/linking the stuff mentioned. Please just give a google if you're interested, stuff will def show up.


End file.
